‘The air was on fire,’ last Hindenburg survivor recalls

Wind and thunderstorms had delayed the Hindenburg’s arrival in New Jersey from Germany on May 6, 1937. The father of 8-year-old Werner Doehner headed to his cabin after using his movie camera to shoot some scenes of Lakehurst Naval Air Station from the airship’s dining room.

“We didn’t see him again,” recalled Doehner, now 88 and the only person left of the 62 passengers and crew who survived the fire that killed his father, sister and 34 other souls 80 years ago Saturday.

Doehner and his parents, older brother and sister were returning from a vacation in Germany and planned to travel on the 804-foot-long Hindenburg to Lakehurst, then fly to Newark and board a train in nearby New York City to take them home to Mexico City, where Doehner’s father was a pharmaceutical executive.

The children would have preferred the decks and public rooms of an ocean liner because space was tight on the airship, Doehner said in a rare telephone interview this week with The Associated Press from his home in Parachute, Colorado.

Their mother brought games to keep the children busy. They toured the control car and the catwalks inside the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg. They could see an ice field as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he remembered.

As the Hindenburg arrived at its destination, flames began to flicker on top of the ship.

Hydrogen, exposed to air, fueled an inferno. The front section of the Hindenburg pitched up and the back section pitched down.

“Suddenly the air was on fire,” Doehner said.

This May 6, 1937 photo, provided by the Philadelphia Public Ledger, was taken at almost the split second that the Hindenburg exploded over the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, N.J. Only one person is left of the 62 passengers and crew who survived when the Hindenburg burst into flames 80 years ago Saturday, May 6, 2017. Werner Doehner was 8 years old when he boarded the zeppelin with his parents and older siblings after their vacation to Germany in 1937. The 88-year-old now living in Parachute, Colo., tells The Associated Press that the airship pitched as it tried to land in New Jersey and that "suddenly the air was on fire." (AP Photo)

“We were close to a window, and my mother took my brother and threw him out. She grabbed me and fell back and then threw me out,” he said.

“She tried to get my sister, but she was too heavy, and my mother decided to get out by the time the zeppelin was nearly on the ground.”

His mother had broken her hip.

“I remember lying on the ground, and my brother told me to get up and to get out of there.” Their mother joined them and asked a steward to get her daughter, whom he carried out of the burning wreckage.

A bus took the survivors to an infirmary, where, Doehner said, a nurse gave him a needle to burst his blisters.

From there, the family was taken to Point Pleasant Hospital. Doehner had burns to his face, both hands and down his right leg from the knee. His mother had burns to her face, both legs and both hands. His brother had several burns on his face and right hand.

His sister died early in the morning.

He would remain in the hospital for three months before going to a hospital in New York City in August for skin grafts. He was discharged in January, and the boy, a German speaker, had learned some English.

The family returned to Mexico City, where funerals were held for Doehner’s father and sister, who were among the 35 fatalities of the 97 passengers and crew aboard the airship. A worker on the ground also died.

In this May 7, 1937 photo, ambulances line up to transfer hospitalized victims of the Hindenburg disaster the previous day to other area hospitals from Paul Kimball Hospital, in Lakewood, N.J. (AP Photo)

In this May 7, 1937 photo, news photographers take pictures of an unidentified survivor of the German dirigible Hindenburg disaster the previous day, as survivors are transferred from Paul Kimball Hospital in Lakewood, N.J., to other area hospitals. (AP Photo)

The U.S. Commerce Department determined the accident was caused by a leak of the hydrogen that kept the airship aloft. It mixed with air, causing a fire. “The theory that a brush discharge ignited such mixture appears most probable,” the department’s report said.

Eight decades later, Doehner is the only one left to remember what it was like on the Hindenburg that night. A ceremony commemorating the disaster will take place at the crash site Saturday night.

“Only two others who ever flew on the airship are alive,” said Carl Jablonski, president of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society. “But they weren’t on the last flight.”

Interest in the disaster remains strong as ever, Jablonski said.

“The internet and social media has exposed and attracted the interest of a younger generation,” he said.

The Hindenburg, Doehner said, is “something you don’t forget.”

Spectators and ground crew surround the gondola of the German zeppelin Hindenburg as the lighter-than-air ship prepared to depart the U.S. Naval Station at Lakehurst, NJ, May 11, 1935, on its return trip to Germany. (AP Photo)

A modern, electrically equipped kitchen aboard the zeppelin Hindenburg provides for the passengers and crew, seen in this undated photograph. (AP Photo)

The German zeppelin Hindenburg flies over Manhattan on May 6, 1937. A few hours later, the ship burst into flames in an attempt to land at Lakehurst, N.J. (AP Photo)

The German zeppelin Hindenburg floats over Manhattan Island in New York City on May 6, 1937. (AP Photo)

The German dirigible Hindenburg, with the swastika symbol visible on its tail wing, is shown just before it crashed upon landing at the U.S. Naval Station in Lakehurst, N.J., on May 6, 1937. (AP Photo)

The German zeppelin Hindenburg bursts into flames as it noses toward the mooring post at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, N.J. on May 6, 1937. Thirty-five people on board and one ground crew member were killed. (AP Photo/Murray Becker)

In this May 6, 1937 photo, the German dirigible Hindenburg crashes to earth in flames after exploding at the U.S. Naval Station in Lakehurst, N.J. Only one person is left of the 62 passengers and crew who survived when the Hindenburg burst into flames 80 years ago Saturday, May 6, 2017. Werner Doehner was 8 years old when he boarded the zeppelin with his parents and older siblings after their vacation to Germany in 1937. The 88-year-old now living in Parachute, Colo., tells The Associated Press that the airship pitched as it tried to land in New Jersey and that "suddenly the air was on fire." (AP Photo/Murray Becker)

The blazing inferno that was the German airship Hindenburg is reduced to ruins as a survivor, lower right hand corner, runs to safety, May 6, 1937, after it exploded on mooring at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. Rescuers, left and center, rush forward to pull other passenger and crew away from the fiery wreckage. (AP Photo)

Black smoke rises from the skeleton of the burning Hindenburg airship at Lakehurst, N.J., May 6, 1937. The German-built zeppelin caught fire and exploded mid-air as it was landing after its transatlantic voyage, carrying 97 passengers and crew. Thirty-five people on board and one ground crew member were killed. (AP Photo/Murray Becker)

A victim of the Hindenburg disaster is taken away in a stretcher in the aftermath of the airship crash in Lakehurst, N.J., May 6, 1937. The German-built zeppelin burst into flame in mid-air as it was landing after its transatlantic voyage, carrying 97 passengers and crew. Thirty-five people on board and one ground crew member were killed. (AP Photo/Murray Becker)

An unidentified survivor of the airship Hindenburg disaster, along with a nurse and unidentified emergency service workers are seen in an ambulance as the patient is transferred from Paul Kimball Hospital in Lakewood, N.J. to another area hospital, May 7, 1937. The German zeppelin exploded yesterday after mooring in Lakehurst Naval Air Station, killing 36 people. (AP Photo)

Relatives and friends of persons listed as missing in the Hindenburg disaster check the bulletin board on which the names of survivors are being added in Lakehurst, N.J., May 7, 1937. The German-built zeppelin, carrying 97 passengers and crew, burst into flames in mid-air as it was landing after its transatlantic voyage May 6. Thirty-five people on board and one ground crew member were killed. (AP Photo)

An unidentified woman survivor is being led from the scene of the Hindenburg disaster at the U.S. Naval Station in Lakehurst, N.J., May 6, 1937. (AP Photo/Murray Becker)

Two men inspect the twisted metal framework of the crashed dirigible Hindenburg at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, N.J., May 1937. (AP Photo)

Members of the U.S. Navy Board of Inquiry inspect the wreckage of the German zeppelin Hindenburg on the field of the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, May 8, 1937. The Hindenburg exploded after morning on May 6, killing 36 people. (AP Photo)

Two survivors of the Hindenburg disaster, 13-year-old Werner Franz, cabin boy, and Heinrich Kubis, a steward, are shown in Lakehurst, N.J., May 7, 1937. (AP Photo)

Funeral services for the 28 Germans who lost their lives in the Hindenburg disaster May 6 are held on the Hamburg-American pier in New York City, May 11, 1937. The swastika-draped caskets will be placed on board the Hamburg for their return to Europe. About 10,000 members of German organizations line the pier. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano)